(i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vending machine for selling a canned beverage, a bottled beverage, a plastic-bottled beverage, etc., and more specifically to a vending machine having a display for displaying an image on a surface to purchasers.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
A typical vending machine for selling commodity such as a canned beverage, a bottled beverage, a plastic-bottled beverage, etc. has a display such as a liquid crystal display, etc. for displaying an image on a surface to purchasers. The vending machine has a touch sensor on a surface of the display in place of conventional button switches, displays a plurality of commodity images (including added data such as commodity prices, temperature characters, etc.) indicating dispensable commodities on the display in place of conventional commodity samples, and performs-predetermined sales of commodities by detecting a touch of a predetermined commodity image by means of the touch sensor.
With the vending machine, an operation relating to exchanges or position changes of commodity samples in the conventional vending machine can be easily performed by setting and changing the kind and position of the commodity images displayed on the display.
With this type of the vending machine, when commodities are sold out during an operation, the commodity images of sold-out commodities are cleared on the display. However, in the method of clearing the commodity images corresponding to sold-out commodities from the display, the commodity images are cleared as if it were lost. Thereby, giving a bad impression to the purchasers when the purchasers see the display, and lowering an appetite for shopping because there are a smaller number of displayed commodity images.